Vanessa Tannen
In Vellum, there are beings called the Fates who take your life and put it in a book. These books are available to distribute to those whom the subject deems worthy. Vanessa had given one such book to the Batiste family because she believed my mother to be her spiritual sister, a platonic soulmate of sorts. The magic of these books is that you can peer in them and they are not complete, the Fates use special paper for their copy that prints what they write on to the books that are linked to the main Book of Life copies. Later on, being rather curious about Vanessa, I read her book. She was born a to witch and an unknown father in the Blackwood on the Vellum side. Her mother was looked down upon because she had a child and didn’t exactly know who the father was. Many suspected that she had an affair with the king because at one point they were close. The sad reality is that Vanessa was not a hybrid as the Vellinians called them. I believe a child born of a witch and pyrio would be a pytch. Vanessa was purely a witch and therefore the king was not her father but that never stopped the rumors from being whispered every time her mother, Evelyn came into the capital for supplies. Evelyn used to live in the capital but moved into her Blackwood cottage my grandfather had built for her.
Evidently Blackwood had an estate on both sides of the portal, the other being the exact same as this one. This move by grandfather sparked more rumors that perhaps it wasn’t the king she had an affair with but the Duke of Blackwood. Again, Vanessa was not a pytch. Vanessa and Evelyn were the subjects of insults being hurled at them every time they came out Blackwood. Vellum was unforgiving of anything they felt was scandalous. I had always imagined Vanessa had gone through something in her life that would have caused her to become the way she was. Her personality was that of give no fucks and taking what she wanted when she thought it would benefit her. She was enterprising, when she saw an opportunity, she would seize it. Vanessa started making magical objects from a very young age, her mother had called her a prodigy because typically witches would not have that ability until reaching the university where they would learn the exact art. Vanessa didn’t need tutelage though, her first creation was a feather that, when rubbed, gave the owner the ability to become invisible. My grandfather had a locked display made to give to Vanessa.
While grandfather was not her real father, Vanessa was treated like his own child and essentially was raised along side my father. They had lived on the Vellum side of Blackwood in those days. My grandmother was not a fan of my grandfather taking in the Tannens, not because she thought he was having an affair with Evelyn but because she feared the influence, she would have on her son Reginald. Her fears became worse as Vanessa and Reginald grew up and became teenagers. Vanessa became father’s first love and they kissed for the first time while he was swinging her on the big tree on the Vellum side. She was truly in love with him too at that point. In the end, the two felt like their relationship was not suitable. Despite what father said, Vanessa was going to break up with him but he got to her first so it was rather mutual and civil. Apparently, these playful jabs were like a sibling rivalry of sorts. Vanessa was very instrumental to my parents meeting as well. She knew that my father needed a nudge to even look at Talia. Talia in university was a much different Talia of today but I’m not going to get into all that right now.
Since Vanessa was so gifted at magical items, my father thought that she could help with the present situation of trying to convince the US that we, as Vellinians, were not threat to the world or his country. With this in mind, he turned to her, “Vanessa, what I am about to divulge to you cannot leave this room as it is official business.” Vanessa, sitting next to Jess looked at her and pointed her head at her, “And this one is privy?” My father nodded, “She is the Envoy’s daughter, this news comes from her and her father.” Vanessa then leaned back in the settee, spread her arms across the back and crossed her ankle onto her other leg. “Well, get on with it. I don’t have all day. You interrupted quality girl time that I haven’t had in 18 years.” My father cocked his eyebrow, clearly not amused but nevertheless conveyed all that Jess had told him, almost verbatim.” Vanessa took the news like a woman like her would, calm, cool and collected. She pulled her arms off the back of the couch and spoke, “Okay? So, what does any of this have to do with me. I don’t really charm people, especially aggressive old men.” My father continued, “I feel as though Xan and her ability is the key here. I wanted to see if you could make a magical item that would mostly suppress her ability but leak out just enough to charm the generals. I feel like her ability is potent enough that it should linger long enough to help with negotiations.” Vanessa grabbed my knee, “Can’t you just use Darren to calm the little buggers down? I don’t like you dragging this kid into your adult nonsense. It’s bad enough they already did it to this poor young lycan.” She nodded at Jess who had gone back to staring into her drink. My father grit his teeth, “Trust me Ness. If I could avoid using Xan, I definitely would. Knowing her ability has very long-lasting effects, it would greatly benefit all of Vellum. My personal feelings along with yours should have no bearing on this decision. We must use the tools that we have to ensure the King’s vision of a mutual partnership. Terre has things we need and Vellum has things they need and we need to take aggression out of the equation. Xan offers the best chance for that. I don’t want to use our abilities to manipulate the situation but knowing what I know of some humans it is a necessary evil.”
Vanessa sighed then squeezed my knee before bringing her hand up to her chin. She then spoke, “I think I may be able to craft such an item but the exact measurement will take some time and a few trips here to measure it. I don’t want the wrong percentage to leak and we have another William on our hands. I think being a part of her memory would do no good to our girl here.” She rose from her seat, “Reggie, darling. I will get to work on that tomorrow but for now I really want to spend some time with the gorgeous creature you married upstairs.” She sauntered out of the room and as soon as the door clicked, my father turned to Jess, “I imagine you must have questions but it isn’t up to me to reveal anything to you. That is no longer part of my job.” He looked at me with a knowing expression. He indicated in that sentence that it would now but up to me to reveal what my ability is and why I needed a magical item to suppress it. While Jess was a lovely girl, I didn’t know her well enough to trust her. Trust would always be key to revealing my ability to people, I knew that from the beginning which is why, at that moment, they had to keep it a secret from pretty much everyone. Vanessa was privy because she had to craft the magical items but also because both my parents trusted her implicitly. The staff of the house knew as well because they were a generational staff whose families have served the Batiste for centuries. Trust was key and Jess wasn’t there...yet.
